So here we are again – sunburnt and footsore from yesterday, and a little bit tired and worn out from carrying those big drums all that way…
But you can’t keep a good drummer down, so they say – and it’s very true for all of us. We love drumming and samba and being part of the Wellington Sevens far too much to let a blister or two stop us – so let’s gooooooooo!!! Continue reading
Oh how we love the Wellington Rugby Sevens!
For two full days every February, utter madness and an intense need to dress up in ever more radical costumes overtake the good people of Wellington, and we come together to create the most colourful and flamboyant Sevens tournament anywhere in the world. We rock!
Wellington Batucada has had a role to play in the Sevens every year since 2003, and 2013 was no exception. This year for the first time we decided to dress up in our own Sevens-inspired costumes to do our waterfront performance and parade, rather than wearing our normal uniforms – and the theme we chose was Superheroes. Continue reading
Wellington really turned on the weather for the Sevens this year, eh? 10 perfect sunny days in a row with no wind – it’s like a miracle!
We had a fun time taking part in the Sevens Parade again this year. For a change we were assigned to lead the Argentina team’s float, which in Sevens is the closest you’re gonna get to Brazil 🙂 and the lunchtime crowds lining the streets were in good voice as usual.
Here’s a bit of a taster of what went down… Continue reading
It was quite a surprise to be asked by the San Francisco Bath House to do a gig just before Christmas – it was quite short notice, but what the heck? It’s not every day you get asked to headline a gig, after all… plus, the proposed date was The Day After The End Of The World, and who wouldn’t want to celebrate that? (Assuming we were still here, of course!)
As we now know, the world didn’t end on the 21st (hooray!) so it was all systems go on the 22nd!
The San Fran Bath House has quite a modest-sized stage, so a small group of 15 of us (plus Tim C and Darryn directing) had been selected to play. The venue got a noise control complaint during our afternoon sound check/rehearsal, so we were definitely going to be loud enough! Continue reading
As is (almost) always the case, Wellington really turned on the weather for the annual Santa Parade. Blue skies, sunshine and not too much wind. Yay!
We gathered on Stout Street as usual, took some pics and did a bit of a warm-up, and then we were off! Big crowd this year, and very enthusiastic, which was fun.
We’ve learned from experience that one of the most important aspects of our performance during the Santa Parade (for the parade marshalls at least) is that we keep up with the float in front of us. Continue reading
We love the Johnsonville Christmas parade. It’s much smaller than the big central Wellington one, and has a lovely relaxed vibe. It somehow feels very 1950s to me – not big and showy, but much more community-focused and homely. It’s just lovely.
John in his pohutukawa hat, Christian as a Mexican wrestler
Many of the band were sporting extra Christmas regalia in addition to our black uniforms – including Christian who decided to wear his Mexican wrestler’s mask just for fun – well, it does have Christmas colours I suppose – hope he didn’t frighten any small children along the way!
Continue reading
The Festival celebrates the Latin culture through live performances, art & crafts and traditional food stalls, games and children’s activities. As the Festival is organised by the Latin American Women’s Group, we thought it would be a nice idea to send along an all-female version of Wellington Batucada, directed by Carin, in one of her first big directing gigs. Exciting!
Two things were on my mind before the gig. The first was along the lines of “Gulp – we’re playing Latin American music to a real Latin American audience – I really really hope they like us!” The second was “Gosh – an all-girl Batucada gig – I’ve never done one of those before – I hope we can show that – much as we love playing with the boys – we can do just as well without them…”
I needn’t have worried – it was an awesome gig in all respects – not least because the audience was COMPLETELY BRILLIANT – and so, as a result – were we. Continue reading
It’s always great to introduce new people to the fabulousness that is percussion and drumming, particularly of the samba variety.
Here’s Darryn and Batucada drummers doing workshops and performance with classes of 7 and 8 year olds at St Francis de Sales School, Island Bay. Brilliant!
Click on any thumbnail to see the larger version. All photos by Alan Shuker:
Our own AliCat – as well as being a talented tamborim player – is also a Zumba fitness instructor. This year, she invited Wellington Batucada to play for the participants in the annual Party in Pink, raising awareness and funds for Breast Cancer Research.
This is how it went down…
Click on any thumbnail to see the larger version. All photos by Alison Childs:
This was the first time we’ve done anything for Wellington Phoenix in aaages, and we were really pleased to be asked to take part in their new pre-match waterfront parades.
We gathered at Queen’s Wharf and waited for the parade of schoolkids to arrive from Civic Square. Once they reached Queen’s Wharf, we hopped onto the tail-end of their line, and together we all marched along the waterfront to the Stadium. It was a pretty big crowd, all very excited and enthusiastic about seeing the Phoenix in their first home game of the season, as were we. Continue reading